Breakfast Shrimp and Grits

What’s Needed?

You need a thick bottom pot to make really good grits. I use a Le Creuset dutch oven.

“learn to cook. change your life.”

MY THOUGHTS ON THIS RECIPE.KATE HORNING

Shrimp and grits are a Southern tradition that can be found along South Carolina’s coast. While they are becoming more popular and popping up on menus across the country in any number of variations, there are a few requirements to be considered good.

1. Make sure you learn how to cook grits. Good grits should be thick and runny in the pot, allowing them to firm up in your bowl or on your plate. Unless they are leftovers you’re pan frying the next morning, they should not be dry.

2. Cook your shrimp whole, chop them and toss them in, big or small it doesn’t matter. What does matter is making sure you don’t overcook your shrimp.

The shrimp and grits found in this recipe is a little Carolina creole meets Asia. A Charleston classic with a sweet and salty finish. Enjoy!

Ingredients

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1 cup Coarse Ground Grits

Look for a good, locally milled bag of grits if they are available in your area. Shrimp and grits is a Charleston classic and was designed around white hominy grits. Polenta or yellow grits can be used in a pinch, but are not going to be as good.

4 cups Water

If you want an extra flavor try adding a good stock cube or use veggie stock. My favorite is “Not Chicken”. It’s a veggie stock cube that tastes like chicken stock.

1 lb Peeled Shrimp

Shrimp from the Low Country region of South Carolina are rich in flavor and slightly sweet but difficult to get outside of the Carolinas. Gulf shrimp tastes “meatier” and Key West shrimp a little “fishy”. Most of the shrimp available in grocery stores is imported from Southeast Asia and not as rich in flavor. Try different types to find your favorite!

4 oz Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Get the sharpest cheese you can find. It’s worth it!

Creole Seasoning

1 bunch Kale, cut into ribbons

Curly or Green kale is most commonly used. It is usually bright or dark green or purple in color, has tight ruffled leaves and fibrous stalks that can be difficult to chop, but easy to tear if fresh. It has a noticeable pungent flavor with peppery and bitter qualities, the younger the leaves the less bitter.

Lacinato Kale – also known as dinosaur or Tuscan kale and is a little bit more tender than green or red kale. It features dark blue-green leaves with a slightly wrinkled and firm texture.

Kale is high in vitamin A – good for vision and skin. Vitamin C – helpful for your immune system, metabolism, and for hydration. Vitamin K – for protection against various cancers.

Red Pepper Flakes

I like it hot so I use more!

1 clove Garlic, sliced

I like to slice my garlic thin for most of my recipes to infuse more garlic flavor into each dish and prevent the garlic from burning easily.

Garlic is also an amazing antibacterial and antiviral.

To separate the individual cloves from the bulb, place the bulb on a flat surface. Use the heel of your hand to apply firm but gentle pressure at an angle. The parchment layers will separate, allowing you to carefully remove as many cloves as you need.

Then, remove the thin covering on each individual clove. If you need to pop the clove with the side of your knife to help make it easier to remove the skin. Smaller cloves have a more intense flavor.

Because one of garlic’s most beneficial ingredients, allicin, is partially destroyed by cooking, you’ll get the greatest health boost if you use it raw or only lightly cooked when you can. However, cooking garlic forms other healthy sulfur compounds, so you still receive benefits when you cook it.

You can increase the health benefits you receive from garlic by letting it sit after you’ve sliced or crushed it.

Whole bulbs of store-bought garlic will keep for several months or more when stored at room temperature in a dry, dark place that has good air circulation. Keep in mind, however, that garlic’s lifetime decreases once you start removing cloves from the bulb.

1/4 cup Soy Sauce

Get a good Japanese style soy sauce. Kikkoman is my “go-to” brand. Avoid soy sauces that are nothing but salt, water and food coloring. If you are gluten free or wanting to avoid wheat try Tamari. It is more readily available wheat or gluten free and has a nice rich flavor.

1 tbsp Honey

I always use local raw honey. The health benefits are better and if you suffer from seasonal allergies using local honey can help you build up your immunity to allergens over time.

Olive Oil

When buying olive oil look for oil in dark bottles. It protects the fat from breaking down and turning rancid over time. Olive oil is one of the few things where what you spend is equal to it’s relative value. Buy a good mid-priced oil for your everyday cooking and feel free to splurge on a good finishing oil. My favorite all around olive oil is First Fresh.

Directions

1. Place a pot on medium high heat and bring water to a boil.

2. Once the water comes to a boil add your grits to the pot with a pinch of sea salt.

3. Stir the grits often when you first add them to the water. Continue to stir frequently until the grits reach a porridge-like consistency then turn off the heat and allow the grits to thicken.

4. Season the grits with creole seasoning, red pepper flakes and seal salt to taste. Add the grated cheddar cheese and fold into the grits until melted and mixed evenly.

5. Remove the kale leaves from the stem. Roll them into cigar-like rolls and then slice them into ribbons (chiffonade). Chop the onions.

6. In a separate skillet add a small amount of olive oil to the pan (less than a teaspoon), the kale and the onion. Sautee on medium high heat until the onions soften.

7. Rough chop the shrimp and sprinkle with sea salt. Add them to the skillet and sautee until pink.

8. In a small bowl add the honey and then the soy sauce. Whisk with a fork to combine.

9. Add some grits to your bowl top with the shrimp and kale. Drizzle some honeyed soy sauce on the shrimp and enjoy!

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Meet Kate

Health Coach. Lifestyle Expert. Chef.

Kate Horning is an emerging thought leader in health and nutrition. She is an ambassador on the leading edge of a new generation that challenges established ideas, looking for better ways to achieve healthier, happier lives.

Kate’s journey began with a book report at age thirteen, to be allowed by her mother to become a vegetarian. That sparked a passion that has led to studying and living nutrition for over a decade. She uses her own life and her own journey as the blueprint, but the message is to create a healthy lifestyle that fits YOUR needs. And while Kate focuses on plant-based foods personally, the information and structure she provides is equally applicable no matter what your health or fitness beliefs.